


I Would Follow You (To the Moon and Back)

by Dick



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Bottom Louis, Cisnormative comment, Creature Fic, Dirty Talk, Established Relationship, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Manhandling, Minor Injuries, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Possessive Behavior, Rimming, Size Difference, Size Kink, Werewolf Harry, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-05
Updated: 2015-12-05
Packaged: 2018-05-05 01:31:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5355929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dick/pseuds/Dick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone has baggage, some people sleepwalk, some have obsessive exes, and others turn into anthropomorphic wolf-like monsters that destroy furniture and run rampant in the forest. Perfectly normal.</p><p>Or the one where Harry and Louis have been dating for six months, Harry is a werewolf, and it's a full moon. This time they're going to get it right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Would Follow You (To the Moon and Back)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [whoknows](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoknows/gifts).



> Hello! I am sorry this is so late (and so horrible), school has been kicking my bum! However, I am extremely glad to have this done! To make up for the lack of quality I do have a prequel planned that will be longer and better quality! But regardless, I hope you enjoy this. Thank you for the prompt, I sort of absolutely adore this.
> 
> This is an AU based on one of my favourite animations. While the animation provided a framework, I have and I hope to continue to expand further in the future.
> 
> Now, I would like to thank [Lynxh](http://alwaysinmyheartsincerely.tumblr.com/) for pushing me to write this, at times with tough love, as I was my own biggest obstacle and being patient while I worked on that.
> 
> I would also like to thank everyone who is reading this for doing so.
> 
> Enjoy!

"Who would win in a fight, pirates or ninjas?"

If you had asked Louis where he thought he would be in his final year of University, he never would have said this is where you would find him; legs propped up on a black clerk counter in an empty record shop, smoking a blunt with his two best mates.

Honestly, he would be lying if he said he was disappointed with the contrast to his expectations of internships grabbing coffees for his boss and pretending he was actually gaining any of the unpaid experience that the internship supposedly promised. All in all, Louis felt pretty fulfilled, or at least that’s what he said when Zayn asked him how it felt to be on his way to graduation.

It wasn’t a lie, really, as Louis thought about where he was, surrounded by the paint chipped walls of the shop, dust lying stagnant on high places that Niall claimed to have reached only a week ago, he was happy to call himself truly content.

Someone had once told him that while life doesn’t always end up the way you expected it to, sometimes it ends up exactly how it should be. And now, sandwiched between two of his favourite people, he figured that that person was pretty spot on.

“Hey, lover boy, could you stop staring at your phone for a minute and maybe pay attention to your two dear friends who you’ve barely seen all week,” a petulant Zayn-like voice from a little over to his right, a telling smile betraying the steely expression Louis was sure he was wearing. Zayn was clearly forgetting that he saw and talked to them every day of his entire life, seeing as they all worked and went to school together.

He wasn’t sure if he said that out loud, as following the silence of what he had assumed to be his own thoughts, a Niall-esque laugh immediately followed. Regardless, Louis found himself laughing along though his eyes remained to stare holes through his hands and he was unsure exactly what he was laughing at beyond his own thoughts.

Just to confirm his suspicions, Louis head tugged upward from its curled placement against his chest, while his eyes drifted slowly back down to the text he apparently had been staring at for long enough to be noticed. It was Harry, it was always Harry.

_Hope u r having a good day at work xx_

_I_ _miss u :(_

Louis’ teeth sunk into his lips and his eyes found themselves faced with the cracked tiles of the ceiling, waves of intense emotions crashing over him, chest almost constricting. Louis really had to ask Zayn where he got this weed.

Right, Zayn. Louis pushed himself up from his reclined position to sit up fully, elbows sinking to rest firmly in the top of his thighs, balls of his feet making contact with the ground to bear the weight. Zayn and Niall seemed to have already drifted into their own conversation, handing their glasses to one another and squinting around and criticizing each other’s vision as if they didn’t have this exact discussion every single week.

Zayn’s eyes quickly darted over for a moment and he raised an eyebrow over Niall’s wide rimmed glasses, “Finally able to talk?”

Louis rolled his eyes in lieu of an apology and shrugged, fingers typing out a few emoji hearts in rainbow order followed by some moons, while keeping his eyes up at Zayn.

Niall mirrored the shrug from his seat, “Young love, what can you do?” He passed the glasses and the almost burnt out blunt to Zayn, other hand reaching into the bag of crisps and unceremoniously shoving a handful into his mouth before continuing to talk over Zayn’s rather crude suggestions of what should actually be done, “How is your boy anyway?”

Louis’ smile stretched across his face, mouth stretching thin as it grew. _His boy._ Some part of Louis was never going to get used to that, probably his heart considering the fact that even six months later his heart still stopped beating to listen in. _His_ boy. Louis typically wasn’t the possessive weirdo of the couple, but he supposed everyone had their moments.

“My boy is,” Louis paused, licking his lips as he thought of what to say: _Wonderful, Lovely, Amazing,_ before settling on, “very well, thank you.”

Zayn snorted from his corner, voice taking on a lilt at the ends as he repeated Louis word back in a mocking manner, “Very well, thank you. He steals you away for six months and all he is, is well?”

Louis paused, mind slow from the remnants of a buzz, but failed to speak before Niall cut in, “To be fair,” Niall said, mouth still full of assorted crisps, “you all weren’t really friends before he met Harry.” Zayn rolled his eyes in response and Louis idly wondered if they’re going to get stuck like that one day, visiting the back of his head.

“Then maybe that says something,” Zayn huffed, “I see him less now than I did when I just thought he was the weird kid with a shitty bowl haircut in my first year lit class.”

Louis resented that comment, his hair may have been slightly bowl-ish but it wasn’t at all shitty. All the boys loved his hair, they swore by it. Louis responded as much, but Zayn just laughed and shook his head, which probably meant he knew Louis was right, maybe.

“I’m just saying,” Zayn said on a sigh, sitting up to clean up as a bell rang signaling the rare feat of a customer entering the store, “it wouldn’t hurt for you to come out sometime, maybe even bring the fuzzball along, I don’t care. I just feel like if I don’t get to see your ugly mug enough now, what am I going to do when you go off and make something of yourself?”

Suddenly everything was far too emotional for Louis’ wellbeing, so in a form of defense, his pulled his face into what Harry called his “sad puppy pout” before he could embarrass himself. Reaching his arms out, Louis made grabby hands in Zayn’s direction, getting a begrudging eye roll before Zayn relented, tilting his body closer and allowing himself to be wrapped into a hug.

Louis could tell he’d been holding on to long when Zayn raised an arm to start patting his back instead of actually participating in the embrace, but he didn’t care; he keeps hugging until an annoyed cough and repeated ring of the call bell cause him to open his eye again and glance over, first at the customer who looked like they’re about to melt their own face off by catching their neon green locks on fire, and then at Niall’s empty seat.

He detached himself from Zayn, grumbling about the ruined brotherly moment, before sitting down as Zayn halfheartedly sent the customer on their way, clutching their Beatles record to their chest and sending a glare over their shoulder before the door rang once more to sound their departure.

At the sound of the bell, Niall arrived once more from the back of the store, another blunt and ten more bags of crisps in his arms. His smile was that of someone returning from a life changing journey, and he splayed the items across the counter like spoils from war, rather than supplies from the break room where they were actually supposed to do this stuff in like normal employees.

“Why do you always disappear when there’s actual work to be done,” Zayn mumbled, not entirely a question but not entirely a mere observation, as he grabbed a bag of spicy crisps of the counter top and reclined once more in his seat.

Niall ignored him and instead began to light up the blunt, thumb struggling with the lighter, before giving up and reaching over to get a handful of Zayn’s snack bag.

“You should-“ Niall began before stopping to chew a bit more of his food in attempt to become more intelligible, “You should come over to mine tonight, Zayn, Liam, and some other mates are coming. Might watch some tele’, chill, and maybe jam out a bit. Real casual.” Niall smiled so big, that even with the chunks of half chewed food stuck between his teeth, Louis was instantly charmed, as always. Louis opened his mouth to say yes when his phone buzzed.

The notification showed a message from Harry, a dog emoji with a question mark after it. After the initial fond induced smile, Louis froze glancing at the date and sighing, shaking his head slowly, “Can’t mate, sorry, next time I promise.”

Zayn groaned, “Of course, next time. What is it this time? A wine tasting at an art gala?”

“No,” Louis exasperated, “it’s that time of the month again.”

Understanding washed over Zayn’s features and he nodded sharply, offering a sympathetic smile which Louis returned with one that he hoped resembled something akin to gratefulness.

Niall on the other hand stopped eating to start laughing, “Time of the month? Last time I checked you were both very gay and very male, I don’t think either of you get to use that excuse.” His remark earned him a slap from Zayn and another exasperated sigh from Louis.

“You idiot. Not _that_ time of the month. If you haven’t somehow forgotten from the time he tore your snapback collection to shreds, our dear Harry is very much not human,” Zayn’s voice had taken on the tone used by scolding primary teachers and for once Louis began to see Zayn the teacher, instead of Zayn his friend.

Niall’s jaw fell to hang open, crisp crumbs lying on the ridge of his lower lip, “Oh! Ohhhhh, I get it now. He’s going to go all like,” he fumbled for the proper word for a moment, “wolf like.”

Louis nodded slowly, trying to decide between amusement and being annoyed, “As werewolves do, yes.”

“That’s so much cooler than our plans! Wait, can we come?” Niall gripped his bag of chips close to his chest, bag crinkling in his clutch.

Louis closed his eyes for a moment and tried not to snap about how Harry wasn’t a sideshow act, mind racing through Harry’s fear of people viewing him as that exact thing.

Zayn’s arm reached across Louis to press against Niall’s arm, shaking his head slowly. Niall, despite at times being oblivious, appeared to realise what implications his question held and immediately began to stumble over apologies, all of which Louis brushed off as he stood up with the rolling chimes of the grandfathered clock sandwiched in the back corner of the shop, signaling the end of his shift. 

“How is lover boy getting out of his classes today anyway?” Zayn asked, having finally lit the blunt, inhaling and releasing a puff of smoke from his lips, obscuring Louis’ view of his face as he began to gather his things on top of the counter.

“His mom made some kind of arrangements, apparently was an alumni of the University, or something.”

“Don’t they like, notice he’s absent two days every full moon?” Niall asked through a mouth full, voice muffled and almost indiscernible.

“Surprisingly,” Zayn drawled, tilting his head back and over to look at Niall lazily, “Most humans don’t pay that much attention to the moon cycles. That’s mostly just us it matters to, mate.”

Niall’s eyes widen and he nods, “Good to know, I’m learning more every day, really.” Louis laughed lightly, suddenly very aware of his own humanity, before glancing up at the clock above the till and beginning to leave.

“Well,” Louis began to shrug on his jacket to fight the biting cold of Northern winter, “I am off tomorrow as well, so I will see you all later!”

Zayn hummed in ascent, nodding slowly as he drawled, “You all have that big exam tomorrow, right?”

Louis nodded quickly, grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder as he pressed his back against the cold metal bar of the exit.

“Good luck,” Zayn snorted, laughter bubbling on his lips as Louis pushed himself out into the open air, a shout farewell from Niall squeezing itself out before the door fell closed.

Louis sighed, pulling his jacket closer to his body as he set his pack down and bent over to grab his wallet from a pocket, errands listing their way through his head as a checklist to complete before he got home. Actually, he wasn’t that organized at all, but Harry was and had put a list into the lunch he had packed him that morning for school and work.

Harry was always especially doting right before a full moon, claiming to be making an advanced apology for the terror he would be that night. He never believed Louis when he said that it wasn’t really that big of a deal. Everyone had baggage, some people sleepwalk, some have crazy exes, and others turned into anthropomorphic wolf-like monsters that destroyed furniture and left dead squirrels on front doorsteps. Perfectly normal.

Louis rubbed his stomach absentmindedly, which was happy and full just like he liked it.

So, maybe Louis wasn’t really complaining.

Not that Harry didn’t usually make breakfast, but on these days it was always his favourite fry ups and sandwiches for lunch with the crust cut off.

The real, quality stuff.

Once Louis got past the first few months where he refused to eat them and called them “Guiltwiches,” and realized it helped Harry when he “wolfed out” it was actually somewhat enjoyable. Besides, when he was lucky, which seemed to be happening at a much more frequent rate since he met Harry, he would catch Harry still sleeping and get to try his hand at cooking for his boy, waking Harry up and being carried down the stairs while calling him Puppy and quipping at him to wash his dirty paws.

Louis glanced down at his list and then back up at the sign of the building he was approaching, making sure he was at the right dodgy hardware store in the right part of town. He was, and he took a deep breath in, rolling his shoulders back and puffing his chest out. He was only slightly intimidated by the boarded up windows, spray painted in bright red. Despite his apprehension, he trusted harry, so he maintained his posture and headed in.

The inside was surprisingly better than the out, though older it wasn’t that different from the record shop, which he supposed made sense considering they were on the same block. There was even someone lounging in a chair behind the counter, though this time it was a bearded middle aged man with a disgruntled face scrunched up as though constantly smelling something foul.

Louis smiled at him and continued walking in and down the first aisle, humming as he gathered items both for the household in general and for this particular night. He reached out and picked up some superglue in hopes of being able to fix anything potentially broken before turning and heading toward the pet section of the store, grimacing at himself for having to shop for Harry in such a dehumanizing manner, before finding a “Canine Obedience Whistle” and carrying it up to the counter.

The older man eyed him strangely as he laid down the superglue and whistle on the table, raising an eyebrow as he scanned both items and looked at Louis expectantly. Louis stared back for a moment, mind running blank before he was reminded of the list stuffed into his pocket. He fumbled to reach it and stared at it for a moment before he stammered out a sentence.

“I, uh,” he glanced at the man and back at the list, “I got a call saying that an order I placed had come in.”

The man stared back blankly.

“My… Friend? Yeah, my friend comes here about every month and told me that he got some good chains from here so I special ordered some,” Louis continued, nails digging into his hand. His friend was actually Harry, but something told him not to take chances with the whole boyfriend thing when this man was proving to be anything less than friendly.

The man finally nodded, heading through the archway behind him and into the back of the store, leaving Louis alone with the nodding solar powered flower bobbing its head by the register. Louis looked around the space and pocketed a few mints out of the complementary jar that says “Take one” in a child’s scrawl, only because they’re the butter kind that melt in his mouth and he thought they might be cinnamon. He’d only ever break the rule for good reason.

He then looked at stacked flyers placed in front of the register and takes a few; one for a painting class he could do with Zayn or at least watch Zayn do, an open mic night at a coffee shop promising free drinks for performers for Niall and Harry under the assumption that boyfriends of the performers also get free beverages, and one for dog training classes mostly because Harry will scrunch up his nose and maybe end up manhandling Louis a little bit.

“A friend?” a voice from the back called, slowly approaching, “tallish, curly hair, wears weird hats?” Louis face lit up at the description because that certainly sounded right.

“Yeah, that’s him” Louis called back, nodding to himself as the man slowly comes into view again, carrying a shipping package in his arm with a surprising amount of ease.

The man set the package down with a contradictory thud and pushed it towards Louis before turning to the register, seemingly more relaxed now that he’d decided Louis wasn’t a weirdo trying to rob him at whistle point.

The man hums as he types in a worryingly high number, “Honestly he seems like a bit of a fruitcake, if you know what I mean.”

Louis bristles in response, face twisting into disgust as he turned away from the man slightly to regain control. He was on a tight schedule, get the chains and go home. Get the chains and go home.

At the lack of answer the man continued, “These for your dog?” he gestured at the items on the items on the counter.

“No, I don’t have a dog,” Louis snapped, wanting to get out of here as soon as possible, but failing to realise why a sudden silence lingered between the two of them. Louis glanced back down at the items and blushed, realizing his mistake.

“Uh, they’re for the friend that told me about this place… A gift,” he muttered, playing nervously with his fingers and staring at his feet. He’d never been one for lying which didn’t make much sense as he almost majored in drama, but apparently the degree of separation that comes with acting makes all the difference.

“Your ‘friends’ dog,” the man emphasized friend suggestively, and Louis’ skin crawled to get out of the shop, “is an absolute menace it seems, tears through chains every month. This new material isn’t going to help at all either, if you ask me he ‘ought to just put it down. Do everyone a favour. Don’t you think?”

Louis, a man of patience, may have been able to let it slide if the theoretical dog actually existed. It was much harder however, to ignore the fact that this man just said his boyfriend should be put down. The same boyfriend who made crepes with whipped cream smiley faces and the same boyfriend that did yoga naked at six in the morning and the same boyfriend Louis loved with every fibre of his being.

“Listen!” Louis slammed his hand down on the counter, feeling the creaking of the wood resonate through his hand and into his shoulders, suddenly the weight of his coursework in his pack settling on his shoulders, “if you’re done being a right arse, I just need my chains, please. I’m paying you for them, not for your shitty opinions.”

The man sat silent for a moment or two, and the reality of what he said settled into Louis as the silence did edged with a hint of regret. Then the man moved, not to kill Louis, but instead to be raised in a sign of resignation, apology if Louis was to romanticize the gesture enough.

The man returned to his bored, expressionless mannerisms and monotonously told him his total, and Louis in turn handed him some crumpled bills and attempted to be as unapologetic as possible. Louis shoved the glue and the whistle in his pack, and attempted to grab the package with one arm.

It didn’t budge.

Asking for help was out of the question now, not that Louis would accept any anyway, he was a fully capable person. So instead, he thought about Liam doing squats with heavy weights, telling him to lift with his legs, and he gripped the package with both hands, before standing up straight and carrying it out in a baby-like cradle. The cold bit as his nose, and slid its arms into his jacket as to cuddle close to his body, but Louis arms were full and he could do nothing to stop it, so he continued onward.

Louis made his way back to the record shop with trudging steps, regretting having not taken his vehicle in the first place, but refusing to resign and become one of those people who drove everywhere despite Harry's insistence. Louis could still walk to most places he needed to, just not while carrying five thousand pounds of silver.

Louis struggled with his keys, and then struggled with the door handle, thanking Zayn silently for putting so many obscure band posters up in the windows of the shop so no one had to see his failures. When he finally got the door open, he threw the package and his backpack into the passenger seat and climbed in, started the ignition and made his way home.

The drive out of the city and into the suburban outskirts could be long at times, and it made him long for the days in his cramped apartment with Liam, when they lived practically on top of each other. He didn’t have Harry then of course, so really losing the convenience was little sacrifice for all that was gained.

However if it wasn’t for that tiny apartment with only half bath that forced Louis to actually visit the gym to bathe, he wouldn’t have met Harry at all. It was truly thanks to Liam and that tiny shoebox where no secrets could be kept that they met in the first place. He should really look into sending Liam a fruit basket sometime. A “Thanks for introducing me to my Soulmate” basket.

When Louis finally reaches home, he pulls slowly up to the house before putting his car into park and slowly collecting both heavy items from the passenger seat. Louis can tell Harry knows he is home before he gets in the front door.

Mostly from the way he catches distinctly Harry fingers parting blinds for distinctly Harry eyes, but also because while Louis doesn’t know a lot of things, if he knows one thing it’s Harry, and he knows that thing well. Well enough to know that Harry heard him pull up and came down ready to open the door and help him.

Or not.

When Louis opened the door the ground suddenly disappears, or it is taken away from his feet, a feeling he’s all too used to ever since he got with Harry. And then, there are green, green eyes staring into his own and there were lips smashing against his and it was getting hard to breathe; and then-

There was a loud crashing noise as he dropped the package from his arms.

Harry jumped back for a moment, staring wide eyed like a weredoe, like he had forgotten he had sent Louis off to the store to pick things up. Harry then leaned down, picked up the package with a single arm and set it down on the dining room table while Louis followed suit by setting his pack down on the ground. Louis would have been more annoyed by Harry’s increasing supernatural strength if it weren’t oddly arousing. As it was, he didn’t complain.

Especially when Harry was approaching him once again with an almost predatory glint in his eye. Louis backs up slightly against the door, now pressed closed, and Harry crowds in, boxing Louis within his arms.

“I missed you,” Louis muttered, lifting a hand to bury it in Harry’s curls, trying to avoid the spike of arousal shooting through his body at the pure size difference, feeling small between Harry’s arms.

Harry groaned and buried his face into Louis’ neck, inhaling deeply. Louis took this to mean that Harry missed him too, or that his new cologne smelled really good. One of the two.

Louis’ inquires disappeared as Harry began fervently to nip and suck at Louis’ neck. Each time he parted, he kissed the spot he left, licking it softly in apology before traveling across his neck to leave another, leaving trails across his skin as if to find his way back to him later.

When he was satisfied with his work he pulled back, pupils blow and appraising his work on the left side of Louis’ neck, before moving back down to move across to the other side, leaving purple in his wake, teeth grazing across his skin before his lips came to rest underneath Louis’ jaw, sucking hard and then teasing the bruised skin with his teeth. Louis’ cock twitched as he left a particularly deep mark on the spot beneath his ear, sinking his teeth into it instead of a kiss, causing a soft noise to escape Louis’ mouth and a growl rumbled out of Harry’s chest in response, stepping closer and bowing his body to form against Louis’, fitting his leg between both of Louis’ own.

“You’re so beautiful,” Harry groans, voice deep set and filled with gravel, “and all mine.” His voice ends in a growl, teeth sinking into Louis’ collarbone, right above the low swooping collar of his shirt. It’s rare that Harry gets this uninhibited, as to leave Louis covered in marks that he will have to explain for the next week, maybe even two, but at times like these it leaves a thrill in both of them.

Louis let a moan slip from between his lips at the thought, which was swallowed quickly by Harry’s own as they pressed against his. Harry ground down against Louis’ thigh giving Louis a feel of his hardened length, his own cock thickening as they began to move together, rutting against each other as they entangled together.

Harry’s sharp canines caught Louis lower lip, digging in and drawing blood which was quickly caught by Harry’s tongue as he pushed it through Louis’ lips. Louis is drunk on the feeling of Harry being rough, his own tongue slipping into Harry’s mouth to brush against his canine teeth, feeling the thrill of their edge against his tongue.

Harry’s hand traveled Louis’ body, reaching down to grip onto Louis’ ass tightly, fingers digging into the supple flesh. Louis presses back into Harry’s hands, torn between grinding forward into Harry’s thigh and back into the hands kneading his bum.

Louis squirmed helplessly as Harry played him like putty in his hands, gripping him bruisingly and setting Louis afire. Harry lifted the back of Louis’ shirt and jacket. Slipping his warm hands up to touch the concave line of Louis’ back before sliding his hand down to slip inside his jeans and boxers. Louis moaned as Harry’s hands came to settle on his cheeks and splay his hands across, fingers slipping into his crack.

Louis’ cock throbbed against his zipper and Harry used the placement of his hands to push Louis’ against his thigh, the force of pushing also sliding his fingers along him, sometimes catching on his rim and drawing a devastating moan out of Louis’ mouth at the feeling of being used and unsure whether to try to push back in hopes of catching Harry’s fingers or forwards to give needed relief to his cock, but knowing it was useless as Harry controlled his movements, grinding him incessantly against his thigh while he ground his own length against him.

“You love this don’t you,” Harry growled against Louis lips, and Louis eyes snapped open, “love me controlling you like this, bet I could make you come just like this.”

Louis shook his head quickly, whining as Harry’s motions slowly slowed, “Need you, need your fingers.” He decided in this moment to ignore how destroyed and fucked out his voice sounded, as his chest heaved in attempt to catch up.

Harry growled once more, animalistic and harsh as one hand came to steady on Louis’ waist and the other moved deeper into Louis’ pants, pressing between Louis’ cheeks to rub circles against his hole. Louis panted and hung his head, circling his hips back in attempt to get Harry in. When the tip of Harry’s finger slipped in, he hissed, a moan bubbling out of his lips as Harry began to increase the movement of their hips. He just wanted to be fucked. Preferably sooner rather than later. But that required lube, lube that was only located in their bedroom.

“Harry-” Louis moaned, Harry growling and pushing impossibly closer, speeding up their movements against each other. Louis attempted to squirm back, but then remembered he was against the wall.

“Harry, stop.”

Movement ceased as Harry pulled back, brows furrowed in concerned and face pulled into that weird frog expression that Louis always picked on.

“Lube,” Louis panted simply, “We need lube.”

Harry let out a frustrated puff and then nodded, pulling back and staring at Louis with a blown out expression, as though in admiring him like a piece of art.

Louis blushed and scrunched up his face, slapping Harry on the shoulder, ignoring Harrys growl, “Come on then, take me upstairs, yeah?”

Harry nodded and proceeded to lift Louis up, taking him by surprise as he’s lifted parallel to the ground, being carried bridal style. Upside down Louis watched as his perspective tilted, unable to make out the show playing on the television in the living room, or pay any mind that the cushions were taken off of every chair and sofa before he was being taken up the stairs. Louis tapped Harry’s chest with his hand three times and Harry glanced down, “Don’t forget to skip the third step from the top, it’s still broken.” Harry nodded and kissed Louis head in a surprisingly sweet gesture, almost sweet enough that he could almost forget about how uncomfortably hard he is. Almost.

Harry jumped the last few steps before quickly shuffling to the end of the hallway and eagerly opening the door which slammed into the wall, and Louis would be more concerned if the drywall wasn’t already crumbling. They’re sure turning the house into a fixer-upper. Harry ignored the loud noise and threw Louis down onto the bed, which absorbed him in white sheets and allowed him to bounce a few times before settling down. As Louis stared up at Harry, the drywall and damage was forgotten, because luckily he had no intentions of having to leave anytime soon.

Harry stared down at Louis before he began to strip from his clothes, hand gripping the back collar of his shirt and pulling it over his head before stretching out. Louis, eyes traveled down his chest, hand reaching behind him to grab a bottle of lube from the nightstand and put it on the bed, smiling to himself at the extra set of nipples on Harry’s torso, apparently a telltale sign of most were-mammals, before traveling across his abdominal muscles which twitched and flexed as he began to unbutton his skinny jeans.

A small, exasperated puff of air left Harry’s lips as he attempted to get his trousers off, nearly falling over as he attempted to tug them down his legs. He wriggled his legs around and eventually sighed looking up at Louis helplessly, as Louis giggled silently to himself, pursing his lips together to conceal his smile. Louis sat up and pulled harry closer by wrapping his fingers around his hips.

He ignored how close he was to Harry’s crotch, fabric of his underwear tented by his erection that was now inches from Louis face. Or, well, he mostly ignored it, he maybe gave it a kiss as he rolled Harry’s jeans down his legs for him. After the jeans were off, all bets were as well, as Louis yanked down Harry’s underwear harshly and wrapped his hand around his dick, twisting and pumping his hand along the length slowly.

Harry growled and thrust forward, but Louis clucked his tongue, grabbing onto Harry’s hip and continuing his pace, appreciating the feel of Harry’s cock. Louis had been with a few men in his time, but none had as fat as a cock as Harry did, and it was lovely. Rarely did Louis look at dicks and call them lovely, but Harry’s was through and through, flushed red and leaking precome from the tip.

Louis leaned forward and gave the head a kitten lick, hand gripped tight on Harry’s hip to prevent him from speeding things up the way he wanted to. He slid down and mouthed at the side, pressing kisses against the hot skin. Harry let out a strangled moan, hand coming down to tangle into Louis hair as Louis continued to lick at the base of Harry. He then moved back upward, dragging his tongue from the base of Harry’s cock and up the tip, swirling his tongue around the tip before slowly sinking down on his length.

Louis pressed down, lips curled over his teeth, tongue pressing flat against his cock pushing it to the roof of his mouth, wrist twisting upward to his mouth where he hadn’t yet reached. Slowly, he began bobbing his head up and down, laving at it with his tongue, hand coming up to meet his mouth, sliding the saliva from his mouth down the shaft until it began to make a slick sound, Harry thrusting forward slightly as he groaned.

“Fucking hell,” Harry moaned, tugging on Louis’ hair and making him moan around his length, vibrations traveling up his cock and making him shudder, drawing another thrust forward, “so good, baby. Such a talented mouth, always get me so close to coming.”

That’s all Louis needs to press down fully, relaxing his throat around Harry and moving his hand aside so his nose brushes Harry’s pubic bone, cock buried in his throat. Louis looks up at Harry and moans, humming around his length and sending shudders racking up Harry’s body. Harry thrust forward shallowly, and on a particular thrust Louis began swallowing down, wrapping Harry’s cock in warm, wet pressure, throat fluttering around it and pulsing as he worked around it.

“Lou, gonna come,” Harry warned, tugging hard on Louis hair as he began thrusting erratically. However instead of letting him finish, Louis pulled back pressing a kiss underneath the tip and letting it slap back up against Harry’s stomach, hips working up in shallow thrusts.

Louis hummed, voice rough, licking precome collected on his lips, “Love your cock so much, want it in me all the time.”

Harry growled at that and threw Louis onto the bed, climbing after him and ripping his shirt from its hems, ignoring Louis cry that it was one of his favourites, and instead working fervently with shaking hands to undo the button of Louis jeans, careful this time, tugging them down his thighs and throwing them to the floor.

He raised an eyebrow when he saw Louis wasn’t wearing any pants, smirk rolling onto his face as he leant down and spread Louis thighs apart.

“Is this for me?” he murmured, teeth sinking into the inner side of his left thigh, sucking a bruise into the skin as Louis squirmed and rolled his body on the bed.

Louis moaned as Harry pushed his legs up, sucking bruises into the dip between his ass and thigh, “Always for you, always.” His voice lilted into a moan at the end as Harry’s hands slid to his cheeks again spreading them apart and breathing gently on his hole.

“Look so pretty like this,” Harry spoke, tongue darting out to flick at Louis’ hole, tearing a moan out of his throat, “open and willing to take what I have to give you.”

Louis nodded his head, throwing it back as harry finally pressed his tongue flat against his rim, sliding his tongue up until he reached his balls, sliding his tongue across the skin before moving back down the tease the tip of his tongue around Louis rim. Louis rolled his body down, swiveling his hips to try and get more, as Harry continued to place wide licks across the rim with small teasing circles circled around the muscle.

“Fuck, Harry,” Louis’ hand reached down to circle his cock, but Harry slapped it way, lifting Louis legs to rest on his shoulders, hands spreading Louis checks, thumbs spreading his hole as he finally dipped his tongue, moving as to stretch his rim. Louis body shakes, hands going to tangle in Harry’s hair, pushing him further into him, tongue exploring further before coming out to flick against the rim

On his way back in, Harry grazes his teeth across Louis rim, causing him to pull tight on Harry’s hair and bear down, Harry continuing to eat into Louis, taking it as Louis’ hips push down onto Harry’s face, desperate as Harry fucks his tongue into him.

Before Harry could thrust his tongue in once more, Louis pulled him back by his curls, panting, “Need you in me, need you now.”

Harry’s hand reached out and Louis stared at it for a moment before swearing and handing him the lube, forgetting that the saliva Harry had left behind wasn’t a good substitute for lube.

Louis sat up on his elbows to watch breathlessly as Harry poured the pink lube over his fingers, candyfloss flavor most likely. He leant down, rubbing his finger around Louis’ hole, circling the entrance, before he bowed his neck and stuck his tongue out to taste, probing it back in. Louis groaned, legs closing involuntarily around Harry’s head before Harry held them back open.

Harry pulled his tongue out and immediate pushed his finger in its place, index finger pushing in to the knuckle before pulling back out to the tip.

“Taste so good,” Harry said, thrusting his finger in and out, Louis pushing back in an attempt to ride it, filling him up.

Louis withered on the bed, as Harry thrusted his finger back in, crooking it to and moving it with skilled ease to just brush Louis’ prostate. Louis’ back arched off the bed and he gasped, legs spreading and pulling up to give Harry more access.

“Please, Harry, more,” Louis panted, chest heaving as Harry began to rub his finger in circles on Louis’ prostate, pressing down as Louis’ body squirmed.

Harry pulled his finger out to the tip and Louis whined, protest building in his throat before Harry shoved in another finger along with it, both fingers filling him and finding their way directly to his prostate. Louis throw his head back and groaned, imagining that soon he would be filled by more than Harry’s fingers, but expertly filled by them for now. Harry began to speed his thrusts, drawing his hand back quickly and shoving them back in, hammering Louis’ prostate. Louis’ eyes rolled back in his head, chest heaving as his prostate was assaulted, waves of pleasures wracking over him.

Suddenly it stopped, fingers being removed and Louis opened his eyes in panic, looking wildly down at Harry only to have his mouth run dry. His lube covered hand was wrapped around his large cock, pumping it slowly while he stared down at Louis. Louis knew Harry was large, had to practice for weeks to be able to get him down, but when he was like this, standing over Louis and twisting his wrist over his shaft, he looked bigger than ever. A chill ran down Louis’ spine at the thought, cock dripping precome onto his stomach.

“Harry, need you,” he whined as his eyed his cock hungrily, own twitching in sympathy.

“Yeah?” Harry asked with a smirk, crawling up the bed to hover over Louis, “think you can handle me?”

“I’ve been doing pretty well for the past six-“ he moaned as he was cut off by the head of Harry’s cock pressing against his rim. Louis tried to push his hips down, but found he was bracketed and held down by Harry’s body against his, Harry’s broad shoulders swallowing Louis small frame completely.

“You’re so small,” Harry moaned, slowly pushing into Louis until he was pressed to his hip bones, “and so fucking tight.” He pulled back until just his head was in and angled himself, thrusting back in, pushing down so Louis legs were tilted towards his torso, arse shifting with him, so when Harry pulled back and pushed back in he hit his prostate dead on.

Louis gripped onto the sheets as Harry moaned against his neck, teeth grazing his shoulder blade as he slowly picked up pace, pulling back to slam back into Louis, hips beginning to pick up speed as he pulled back most of the way before thrusting back in. Louis hands came up to grapple on Harry’s back, nails digging in as he pulled Harry closer, head lifting so their lips clashed together, becoming something more of teeth hitting teeth as they panted into each other’s mouths, Louis swiveling his hips downwards as Harry thrust upwards, creating a rhythm in which Harry repeatedly nailed Louis’ prostate, constant pressure created by his girth as his cock slid in and out, head pushing against it on the drag out and back in.

The sound of skin slapping against skin filled the room, as Harry rabbited his hips against Louis’ ass. Louis hands came to grip Harry’s hair, fingers tangling in the locks and pulling as Harry thrusted, the other’s nails digging into Harry’s shoulder, legs coming to wrap around Harry’s thighs, tightening around them to urge him further in. Louis could feel the buildup in the pit of his stomach, but he pushed it down, continuing to dig his heels into Harry’s thighs as he thrusts.

“Always feel so amazing,” Louis stammered out, words broken by staccato moans as the air was punched out of him with every thrust of Harry’s cock. Harry groaned in response, hips stuttering forward as he reached down to press a finger on Louis’ rim where he was pushing into him.

They both moaned out, low and guttural meeting high and breathy. Louis began to experiment with clenching around Harry, changing the pressure surrounding him, which tore moans from Harry’s mouth as Louis clenched particularly tight as Harry pulled out, suctioning on his length and continued as he pushes back in.

Louis was close and he could tell Harry was too, hips stuttering and thrusts becoming sporadic, with the hand he had entangled in Harry’s hair he yanked back, moan bubbling from Harry’s mouth. Harry looked into his eyes as though he was the only thing he could see, pressed against this bed and hidden from the world.

“Want you to come on me, want you to mark me,” Louis moaned, hand coming down to play with the head of his own cock, squeezing gently and spreading the precome with his thumb before his hand reached up to play with Harry’s nipples, fingers coming up to twist and flick them, pulling more groans out of Harry.

Harry growled at the suggestion and pulled out slowly, Louis hissing at the loss. “Yeah, yeah,” he groaned, crawling his way up Louis body to bracket his thighs with his knees. Louis lets his hands fall to his side, fingers twisting in their white sheets, surrendering himself to Harry’s will completely.

Harry poured more lube into his hands and instead of doing what Louis had expected and jerking off onto his stomach, he proceeded to wrap his hand around both of their cocks, Louis gasping deeply as his hips stuttered forward, neglected cock finally being touched after being hard for so long.

Harry masterfully jerked them both off at once, large hand twisting around both, while each of their shallow thrusts rubbed them against each other, precome mixing together and being used to facilitate the lube. Harry lifted his thumb to rub against Louis head, and Louis choked, hips quickening pace.

Suddenly, Louis hips stuttered once, twice and waves of pleasure rolled over him, come spurting out of his dick and onto his stomach and onto Harry’s hand and their cocks. Harry smirked over him and instead of letting go to finish himself, continued to jerk them both, keeping Louis hard and overstimulated, squirming as the pleasure of his orgasm seemed extended, body shaking as pleasure throbbed through his entire body.

Louis glanced down and gasped, watching Harry use Louis’ own come as lube to slide the two of them against each other, Louis’ cock red and irritated from the persistent pleasure, the experience indescribable. Louis was torn between thrusting up against Harry and trying to get away, the pain mixing in to heighten the pleasure.

Suddenly, just as Louis thought he may be able to get it up for a round two, Harry came, long ribbons of come splattering over Louis’ stomach and chest, eventually dripping in a few final strands into Louis’ belly button.

Both boys panted, bodies shaking as their orgasms wracked through them, Harry placing a hand above Louis shoulder to keep himself up as he shook, cock giving a few weak twitches at it slowly softened.

Finally, Harry rubbed the mixture of their come into Louis skin, “Mine.” Before flopping over on to lie on his back.

Louis stayed there, staring up, a silent “Yours.” Left on his lips as his mind drifted off.

Louis lied back against the mattress, sweat smattering his brow, chest heaving upward in desperate gasps of air as his entire body twitched and shook, muscles reacting as synapses fired in the aftermath. Before Harry, Louis thought that post orgasm haze was a myth, though maybe that’s because before Harry his boyfriend always came before he felt anything aside from a little annoyance, but now with his thoughts feeling like he was wading through a pool full of pudding, he fully understood. He stared blankly upward, pretending the popcorn ceiling were patterns making familiar faces and shapes. He remained oblivious, appreciating the glow slowly sinking and expanding to and from his body, as fingers led a body to crawl closer, sweat skin sticking together like cling film. He remains oblivious to lips crawling up his battered neck, until the lips are peppering kisses across his cheekbones and over his nose, and suddenly the ceiling is gone and all that is staring back are green, green eyes.

“Well hello,” Louis grumbled, suddenly feeling a lot dirtier than he did moments before, “I missed you too, puppy.”

Harry rolled his eyes and kissed the smirk off of Louis’ face by pressing gentle kisses along the seam, “Sorry, it was the wolf,” Harry sheepishly supplied between the kisses, nuzzling under Louis’ jaw, for some reason apologizing for the best sex of Louis’ mortal life. Puppy indeed.

Louis’ hand came up to twine into Harry’s sweat matted hair, idly scratching and drawing a purr from Harry’s throat. Louis snorted and took a moment to entertain the idea that perhaps Harry was actually a were-cat, if such thing existed. In reality, when Harry was not a large, furry monster terrorizing the neighbourhood cats, he was actually just a small, fuzzy, human boy who liked watching Food Network and had an affinity for stealing bits of Louis’ take out when he thought he wasn’t paying attention.

There were few superhuman qualities about Harry when it wasn’t that time and all that was could easily be explained away in a moment; a hyperactive metabolism, perfect vision and hearing, facilitated muscle growth, and a propensity to chase things that move too quickly. All of which, except for the last, leave Louis rather grumbly and poking at his tummy and grumbling at his contacts, and scowling when Harry jogs to get the mail when the mailman is still down the street. He supposed it’s only fair, seeing as he didn’t break every bone in his body once a month and lose a majority of the humanity he had left.

 “I’m just saying,” he hummed as Harry continued to kiss over his face, running a hand down his spine and traveling back up like feet trailing from a journey, “sometimes I just want a welcome home kiss.”

Harry laughed as a smirk grew on his face simpering as he drew out, “Didn’t hear you complaining.” Louis was impressed by how fast Harry responded

Harry pouted until Louis grinned, reaching up to peck at Harry’s lips, hand reaching down to cup where the younger man was now soft, giving a gentle squeeze, “Though I guess you gave me a lot more than a kiss, eh?” Harry groaned and thrust weakly forward before pulling back, both knowing that if it continues this way they’ll never stop until Harry is sprouting fur.

Louis pushed himself up onto his elbows before slowly crawling back to sit up fully against their headboard, glancing back and nodding in appreciation that for once their bed remained completely intact, it was getting awkward to explain why they needed a new one every month. They were learning restraint. Progress. Louis was proud. And also properly fucked. A win, win really.

“Has anyone every told you that you’re quite the shag?” Louis asked suddenly, cocking a smile on his face and raising his eyebrows.

Harry, grinned back, softer though, “Has anyone ever told you that you’re quite beautiful?”

Louis’ face involuntarily scrunched up, but he, a man of willpower and control, forced it into something somewhat presentable, hand coming to rub his chin as he mock considered.

“Only you every day since you’ve met me,” he confided, gravely as though sharing a dire secret.

“Heyyyy, I was a romantic.”

“You were embarrassing is what you were.” If only he could keep the smile from his voice and face.

“You loved it.”

Louis paused, considering it for moment before answering, “Maybe, probably true.”

“Besides,” Harry huffed, “If you want to talk about embarrassing what about your attempts to woo me.”

“I thought I was being alluring and accepting!”

“You took me to a steak restaurant, a dog park, and then tried to give me toys.”

“I thought I was being accepting! Besides, it worked didn’t it?” Louis stuck his bottom lip out, which Harry leaned in to catch between his teeth for a moment before pulling back and grinning.

“Yeah, I guess it did.”

Damn right it did. Louis was the master of seduction. Louis was the definition of sexy. Louis was, actually, feeling kind of gross and in serious need of a shower right now.

As Louis swung his legs over the edge of the bed, using the strength of his thighs to stand up fully, he groaned, turning to Harry and smiling. Harry was still on his side, hair creating a halo around his head as he smiled back, dimples carving deep into his cheeks and he slowly rolled over to prop himself up and look at Louis. Louis grinned and let his eyes meander down the lines of Harry’s body.

“What’s the plan, boss?” Harry asked, fingers lifting to wrap around the headboard and toes pointing to stretch the length of his body out, bones popping in satisfaction. Louis grimaced at the sound as he thought about the way it would be echoed later tonight.

“Well, first, I’m going to shower,” Louis replied, tilting his head, “And then you, and after that you can come down and cuddle up to me while I study for my exam tomorrow until it’s time to… You know.” He waved his hands in exasperation, trying to think of the correct words, but instead finding none. Thinking before speaking wasn’t really his thing, but he was working on it.

Harry lowered an arm from the bedpost to mock salute before flopping over on his side and looking up at Louis with a small, content smile on his face. Harry looked unbelievably appealing, lying on their bed, in their house, and it took all Louis had to slowly back away.

When Louis got into the bathroom he locked the door behind him, knowing if he didn’t Harry would follow suit and they’d never leave. Instead, he climbed into hot water and steamed the mirrors as he lathered himself with his (Harry’s) strawberry apple body wash.

By the time he was done, he was squeaky clean and had at hummed his way through an entire Backstreet Boys album, only pausing twice to sing into a bottle of conditioner like a microphone. When he climbed out, drying himself and wrapping up in a towel, he turned to start a bath for Harry, knowing he rarely got to pamper himself and wouldn’t do it for himself.

Louis hummed as he went, finding a bottle of bubble path and pouring it in until bubbles began to pile high atop the water, mountainous above the ridge of the tub. Maybe, just maybe, Louis had gone a little overboard on the bubbles, but nothing was too much for Harry. They took care of each other.

When Louis finally exited the bathroom, he called out for Harry from the hall before pattering damp feet to the bedroom to get dressed and obtain the Puppy. When he saw him, he almost cooed, face mushed into a pillow, mouth open and small snores escaping his lips, his legs were entangled with the blankets while his body was twisted so his shoulders lie face down to the mattress, body contorted and splayed as to take up the entirety of the bed.

Louis rifled through the drawers of the dresser quietly, trying to remember how Harry had them organized at the moment, colour coded or by practicality. Finally, he found suitable options and he chose the first of each, slipping into a pair of joggers and a T-shirt of Harry’s, hanging loose on his frame as to reach his thighs.

Then, he slowly padded over to where Harry slept and gently shook his shoulder, whispering for him to wake up. When Harry opened his eyes, they were still human, and they blinked awake sleepily before closing slightly as Harry smiled, reaching out to pull Louis close. Louis tutted, but let himself be pulled in anyway, ignoring the fact that he was just freshly washed and Harry still wreaked of sex and cheap candyfloss lube.

“Hazza, love,” he murmured, getting a grumble in response, “I made you a bath, come on.”

Harry groaned as Louis tugged on his hands and pulled him up, “Why can’t we just stay? Stay here.”

Louis hummed as he walked backwards, leading Harry to the bath, “Because today is a special day and you deserve to have a bath.”

Harry opened an eye and peered at Louis as they hit the tile of the bathroom, “Special day?”

Louis nodded, touching the bathwater once more through the forearm thickness of bubbles to check that the water was still hot.

“What is it?” Harry asked, though they both knew, slowly climbing into the water and settling down, moaning at the warmth and leaning back against the edge.

“Why, Harold it is the eve of me passing my exam, obviously. Study night.”

Harry’s eyes snapped open and then narrowed and Louis stood, pet Harry’s hair off of his face, and backed out of the splash zone, waving from the doorway. When Harry lifted his fingers once more in the half-hearted wave, and his eyes fell back closed, Louis backed out of the bathroom and headed back down the stairs to the kitchen.

He grabbed his pack and opened it, setting the super glue and dog whistle onto the kitchen table before slinging it over his shoulder and walking into the lounge, eyes widening at the site before him. The cushions of the couch were thrown awry, three empty packets of crisps on the coffee table, and an episode of Restaurant Stakeout playing muted on the TV.

Louis set his pack down and slowly moved to rearrange the cushions, sympathetically lying each one on the couch, hoping that he was putting them in the right spot as they all just resembled rectangles in his opinion. He then moved to grab the crisp bags and went to the kitchen to throw them away, all the while listening to the echoed voice of Harry from the bathroom, Sweet Disposition reverberating through the walls of the house. Louis beamed and hummed along through closed lips, locating the remote and turning the captions on the television as to allow Harry to watch television uninhibited by Louis’ stress.

Finally, he settled into the couch, sinking in and curling down, pulling out his notes for his Botany class and beginning to check himself through each question on the study guide.

\---

Louis was in the middle of writing down the exciting process of leaf abscission in deciduous trees, when two knee like shapes pressed against his crossed calves. Looking up, Harry grinned back at him, hair wet and resting just onto his shoulders, skin practically glowing, and body wrapped in a large sweater, legs tucked into plain grey sweatpants.

Louis suddenly felt very self-conscious of his hair clumped in every direction, but didn’t get the chance to fix it before Harry his plopped down on the couch next to him and formed his body against Louis’ own, and looking down at his notes and huffing, brows furrowing against where they’re pressed to the side of Louis’ head. No words need be said as they sat together, smelling like a mixture of strawberry and apple, engrossed in what they were paying attention to; Louis to his notes, Harry to Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics.

Louis never thought he would find someone, having been admittedly needy and loud his entire life, that he was content sitting in silence with. At family gatherings with extended cousins, Louis always found silence horrendous and awkward, filling it with forced, loud jokes and antics in an attempt to keep conversation going. However with Harry, silence was comfortable and sometimes needed after long days of keeping up with himself.

In reality, it was as though even in silence they were still communicating; shared glances and smiles, cold toes pressed against bare skin, gentle absent minded touches when they moved around the room. It was as if just having Harry by his side was enough, even if they were doing very different things and had extremely different interests.

While Louis was very content with this position, it was showing to be increasingly hard to write his notes without jabbing Harry in the chest especially as his hand scrawled down the notepad, Harry’s head coming to rest on the junction between Louis’ arm and shoulder.

Louis lifted his arm slightly, causing Harry’s head to slide down to thud on top of his forearm. Harry turned his head and pouted up at Louis, “What’s the deal?”

“I’m sorry Puppy, but I just don’t think this is going to work.”

Harry slid up quickly and turned to face Louis, “What do you mean? Did I do something wrong? Was I too rough?” His eyes were wide and searching across Louis’ face.

“No,” Louis laughed, and shook his head, causing a furrowed brow and pout to cross Harry’s expression, “I just meant you sitting against me while I’m studying.”

Harry’s expression brightened, “I was just trying to cuddle you while I could.”

Louis sighed, trying not to feel guilty for having to push his boy away, reaching his hand out to push back Harry’s hair, “I’m sorry, I just really have to study, but how about you help me run through some flash cards?” Harry nodded quickly and pushed himself to scramble to the other side of the couch and held his hand out for the flashcards. Louis laughed in delight at Harry’s eagerness and reaches out to the coffee table to grab them and pass them over. Somehow studying feels easier when it’s with Harry, even if it’s for an exam that could decide whether he graduated or not.

“Okay, what is responsible for dividing the hyphae of fungi into cells?”

___

It’d been an hour and a half and Louis had decided he was never going the remember the difference between zygoti and gametic meosis no matter how many times Harry tried to make pneumonic devices and puns to help him remember. Suddenly Louis was starting to question his choice in majors and if he really wanted to spend the rest of his life examining and running experiments on plants.

But Harry was beaming at him, and kept bragging to himself and their potted plant about how smart his boyfriend is, which had a tendency to make Louis’ face and heart twist up in something between pride and fondness. Still, he sent Harry back to the tele’, not wanting to take his own frustration out on him.

Now, Louis was turned back into his textbook, trying to understand his half asleep notes and highlights on a chapter about Plant hormones and how apparently he had a great idea for how to remember auxins, cytokinins, thylene, absistic acid, giberellis, and brssinsteroids.

That great idea was lost on the Louis who was not running on three hours of sleep and four coffees, though he was still up for trying it, because all that was written under a large underlined “idea” in all caps, was a doodle of stick figure Harry naked, or perhaps a clothed stick figure Harry with a large tumor coming out from his stick figure crotch. Maybe Louis should have been an artist, he bet to himself that they didn’t have crappy finals, and maybe then he could paint Harry. Preferably naked.

Suddenly a body was squirming its way to recline on Louis Lap, head under Louis arms and under his book, a book of their own pushing against it, thinner and probably poetry. Louis ignored him, reading to himself about the effects of stress on plants, causing the production of Ethylene.

The head in his lap turned and the body squirmed, restless, sending carefully stacked notecards to the ground and definitely out of order. Louis took in a deep breath and lifted his arms to glance down at Harry, still moving around as if frustrated and uncomfortable. Louis set the book onto the back of the couch behind him and tapped on the cover of a Neil Hilborn book.

Louis ran his hand through Harry’s hair and scratched gently, inquiring softly, “Now?” Harry lowered the book and looked up, and by now Louis’ had learned enough to know not to jump back. The eyes that meet his may have not been the eyes that he knew so well, but they were still his Harry’s eyes, through and through. They looked like stones pressed into his head, amber probably fossilized and holding that of years past. No white’s showed, yellow with small black dots centered perfectly. Louis was certain that Harry had been struggling to focus as the minor shifts began to became impossible to ignore. Harry’s canine teeth now poked from the corner of his mouth, always the first to elongate before the others followed suit as his facial structure changed.

Harry smiled, close lipped, and nodded, “Maybe yeah,” the teeth gave him a slight lisp and Louis’ eyes crinkled at the edges as Harry sat up and he stood, pulling Harry by the hands to the stairs.

“Wait, Lou,” Harry said and gestures to the kitchen, where the stockpile of supplies still sat on the kitchen table and Louis beamed, leaning up to kiss harry on his jaw, then tip toes to kiss his nose, lips no longer an option for safety reasons.

Harry grabbed the chains with relative ease, watching as Louis rummaged through the cabinets to collect the medication that was needed, along with a bottle of water. Harry looked down at Louis and grinned, reaching a hand out and clasping it tightly with Louis’.

“Come on, puppy,” Louis teased, walking beside Harry to the stairs and squeezing to step with him side by side on the narrow staircase.

Harry rolled his eyes and huffed, “Stop it,” he grumbled, but the beam in his voice gave him away and they grinned at each other. When they reached the third step from the top they hopped over it in sync, giggling and skipping the rest of the way to the end of the hall. When they got there, Louis reached up to grab the high strung string that would release the ladder to the attic.

On his third failed attempt to get closer to the string by rocking on his tippy toes, Harry set down the package to reach up and pull down the ladder to the attic, but Louis hissed slapping Harry’s hand away and jumped up, hand grappling onto the string and pulling down the door, ladder gracefully unfolding as well.

Louis tried to climb up first, but Harry wouldn’t let him, instead going first to “check for any dangers.” Louis stood at the bottom of the ladder staring up for two minutes before he finally got tired of it and climbed up anyway without approval, muttering about his brute of a wolfriend.

When Louis climbed up he found Harry had already turned the light on and opened the package of the chains, sitting crossed legged in front of the radiator, ready for Louis. Louis smiles and walks over, first opening each medicine bottle and putting the correct number of pills into his hand.

“Hand out please, young Harold,” Louis whispered, suddenly feeling like he was a part of a very intimate moment.

Harry stuck his hand out and Louis dropped the pills in, pointing at each, “These two blue ones are two make you fall asleep, usually you only take one, but Liam said since you’ll burn through them fast, so they should last long enough for you to shift while you’re still asleep.”

“Thoughtful of Liam,” Harry nodded, “we should really send him a fruit basket.” At least someone got it.

“The other ones are just the pain killers we always use, nothing new.”

“We are becoming more efficient at this whole werewolf thing,” Harry said around his mouthful of pills, swallowing down the entire bottle of water in the process of getting them down, “I always forget how horrible these taste”

“I know, what did you do before me?” Louis beamed, nudging Harry in the shoulder playfully, and in turn hurting his own hand.

Harry paused, thinking for a moment, “Mostly cry and lock myself away in the freezer at work and call myself cursed.”

Louis faltered, reaching out and cupping his face, “Harry…”

“Just kidding.”

“Jerk,” Louis screeched, “I thought we were getting to some deep emotional soap opera moment.”

“Maybe later,” Harry hummed sleepily, “Right now I just want to take a nap. Plenty more time to discuss the angst of a teenage werewolf.”

“Fine, fine,” Louis mumbled, “let’s get you all tied up, yeah?”

Harry nodded once, pressing himself against the radiator and Louis opened the package fully, heaving the chains out from it and unraveling them in front of himself. He had gotten surprisingly proficient at this, a skill he never thought he would be able to say he had once he flunked out of the Scouts as a young boy. Skills: Chaining werewolves to radiators. He would hire himself with that credential.

As Louis began to drape the first length of chain over Harry, locking one end to the radiator, he could’t help but feel there’s something extremely intimate about the amount of trust that goes into this process for the both of them. Maybe it wasn’t the typical measure of a relationship that most people experience, but in this moment, Harry staring at him with wide yellow eyes and a sleepy smile on his face, Louis never felt more confident in his relationship with Harry.

“Maybe we should consider bringing this into our sex life,” Harry joked, grinning up at Louis with his sharp teeth.

“What?” Louis began, yanking on another length of chain, “me chaining you up to the radiator with silver cable so you don’t kill any cats?”

Harry’s eyes finally drifted down and then snapped up, an unamused expression on his face, “Silver, really?”

“Hey now, it’s just a precaution, last month you broke my grandmother’s lamp.” Louis had always thought the silver thing was a myth, like most other things that he had associated with creatures before meeting some, but a few months ago when Harry decided to try and get an earring, Niall had bought him a sterling silver set shaped like wolf heads and Harry had freaked out. Niall had chased Harry for at least twenty minutes with them before Zayn and Louis finally decided to break it up.

It wouldn’t kill him, Harry had explained, unless he was shot with one, but it did have a weakening effect on him, especially in wolf form, and if he wore it as jewelry he had an allergic reaction consisting of hives, a lesson learnt from when his sister, Gemma, had decided she wanted to be a piercer and proceeded to stick Harry through the lip.

“That was an accident,” Harry protested, eyes drooping.

“I know, and I’m not mad, but one month it’s the lamp,” he grunted as he pulled the last chain over him and locked it over, his boy now fully restrained, “the next month it may be me.”

“I would never,” Harry protested louder, though his words became muddled on a yawn.

Louis sat back on his haunches and admired his work, nodding slowly as he checked to make sure it was all secure. “Do you need a pillow or something, puppy?” he asked, wanting to make sure everything was finished.

“I’ll be fine,” Harry started, before a growl ripped from his chest and he grimaced.

Louis reached out and thumbed his cheek smiling at him, “Well, holler for me if you need anything, okay?”

Louis stood slowly, leaned down and kissed Harry on the forehead, thumb rubbing once more over his cheek bone before dropping and heading back down the ladder. When he stood on tiptoes to peak over the floorboards one last time, he smiled at Harry with his head lulled to the side, finally getting some rest.

Louis walked softly back to the ground floor, walking over to the kitchen and getting himself a glass of water from the tap before moving back to the lounge to continue studying. His heart panged as he looked back in the direction of the attic, but he had to focus.

Liam had said the best thing he could do was distance himself during the stressful process of the transformation. Louis trusted Liam, but more so he trusted Harry who pleaded with him when they first moved in together to stay away during the violent part of the change. Luckily, unlike his first experience, Harry was asleep, so the cracking of bones and bloodcurdling screams would be a thing of the past. Instead, Harry could wake up with the pain all just a bad dream. It was better this way for everyone.

Louis opened his book and yawned, looking down at the next chapter and ignoring every part of him that wanted to set up camp upstairs. He reached to the remote and turned on the television, hoping the background noise of Amazing Wedding Cakes would keep his mind from wandering too much. He looked back down and puffed out some air he was unintentionally holding in.

There are five phyla, Microsporidians, Blastocladiomycetes, Neocallimastigomycetes Chrtrids, and Glomeromycetes.

___

Louis was in in the middle of reading about how Phytophthora infestans affect oak trees when he first heard it, a loud distinct thud from upstairs, followed by another and another.

He stood slowly, reminding himself not to be nervous because that’s his boyfriend up there and Harry’s made him nervous plenty of times in the short time they’ve known each other, but he had never given him a reason to be nervous. It was always Louis psyching himself out over words like, “We need to talk,” “I have a question,” and the classic “I’m a werewolf.”

So Louis walked cautiously up the stairs minus the third, as though avoiding minefields, and cautiously approached the ladder, forcing himself not to jump as another loud thud sounded from up above. He climbed up slowly and peered once more over the floor boards and calls out.

“Everything okay?” Louis wasn’t entirely sure why he asked, because wolf Harry couldn’t speak English.

He _could_ sort of understand it though, so maybe that was Louis’ purpose, probably.

The thumping stopped, so Louis climbed the rest of the way up the ladder and stepped into the attic, where a full wolf Harry was staring intently. Honestly, full wolf harry, though incredibly intimidating, was very much Harry. His brown fur curled away from his body in fluffy tufts and his snout had flecks of white mixed into it. Werewolf Harry, or well, really just Harry, as Harry was always Harry; Harry was not entirely wolf, but not entire human, able to stand on his hind legs comfortably, and towering at about six feet tall, he was certainly no wolf, but not at all close to a human either. Just a, well, Louis thought, Harry was just a Harry really.

His thinking this had gotten him into trouble a month or two prior when Harry introduced him to another werewolf who he promptly greeted as another Harry, which was misinterpreted for calling her hairy while in human form. Long story short, Louis almost caused WW3, that being Wolf War Three. Louis really made the right decision not becoming a history major.

For a second, Louis thought Harry was staring right through him, and Louis began to step forward, smile on his face. Then, Harry eyes locked on him fully, teeth snapping as his lip curled back into a snarl, growls rumbling from his throat.

Oh hell no.

Louis looked taken aback for a moment before his faced scrunched up and he marched forward to sit right in front of Harry, face stern and eyebrow raised in challenge. Harry lunged forward teeth bared, and ready to snap at Louis, body struggling against the chains to no avail. Louis lifted his hand as Harry lunged forward and took a chance, flicking Harry on the nose with his pointer finger. Harry froze, mouth still pulled into an awkward snarl, but expression turned to surprise as Louis slowly pulled his hand back.

“Shut up already,” Louis demanded, expression exasperated and stance firm, arms coming to cross his chest. Harry immediately shrunk back and whined deep in his throat, whimpering at Louis, tail thumping against the radiator. Louis sighed and smiled, leaning forward to give a quick peck to Harry’s wet nose.

“Wet nose! That means you’re very healthy,” Louis beamed, thumb coming to rub along his snout, leaning down to press his nose against the bridge of Harry’s snout.

Harry pushed forward in response, nuzzling into his jaw, and Louis hand came up to comb through his fur and touch the silky soft of his ear, thumbing it between his fingers. Really, as much as they joke about progress, they really had made some. The first full moon they spent together Harry wouldn’t even let Louis’ in the same room as him.

Harry had explained once, the day after that while he remembered people and everything from his daily life, it was a lot harder to retrieve, took more concentration to pull up memories like who Louis was or why he shouldn’t try to eat that cat. It seemed almost impossible, but there they were, being as cute as any werewolf-nonwerewolf relationship could be.

Louis leaned back and clapped his hands together, making Harry jump and make a dissatisfied noise, Louis raised a hand in apology before continuing, “I’m going to go get my notes and we can study together, okay!” He didn’t wait for a response before scooching back on his butt and pushing himself up on knees, then placing his hand on the ground to heave himself up. When he stood he huffed and looked at Harry who almost seemed to be looking at him in amusement.

“Shut up,” Louis whined petulantly, brushing off his pants, receiving a whine from Harry in response, same tone and pitch shift, as though he was mocking him.

Louis flipped him off but laughed to himself, surprised at the ease his relationship with Harry had taken on. A small part of Louis chest panged, warmth growing inside of his chest, wondering if this ease reflected the level of comfort in their relationship. It seemed the closer that Louis and Harry became, the easier full moons were to handle together.

Louis whistled softly to himself as he gathered his books and notes and shoved them back into his bag, shucking it over his shoulder and sliding his opposite arm through the strap. Sometimes he felt certain his backpack was going to become a part of him, like a turtle or a sad snail. Were-snails, at that to the list.

He trudged up the stairs and struggled up the attic ladder, almost falling over from the weight on his back. He flung himself onto the oak flooring and climbed in on all fours, flopping over on his back when he finally made it up. He lied there for a moment, back awkwardly arched by the shape of the pack and head uncomfortably angled so his head was being smashes between his back and the floor. He jerked his head out of the position and then wobbled on his turtle shell of a backpack.

He stretched out his arms and attempted to get himself to move firmly in any direction, but ultimately failed. When he finally got himself centered, resigning himself to being stuck on his back for the rest of his life, he locked eyes with Harry who was staring intently with a curious expression on his face.

“Oh, hey, Hazza,” Louis chirped through a grumble, forcing himself to roll flat on his stomach with and oof and then propping himself up on his knees, “Just you know, chilling.”

Harry blinked blankly back at him.

“I really wasn’t stuck, I could have gotten up if I wanted too.”

Harry blinked back.

“You don’t believe me, do you?”

Harry looked down and to the right, exposing the whites of his eyes before glancing up again and blinking at Louis once more.

Louis huffed, puffing airs upwards and blowing his hair up out of his face, “Fine.”

Harry blinked back and then huffed through his nose as well. Louis giggled in response and crawled over to sit beside Harry, shrugging off the straps of his backpack and letting it take the small drop with a soft thud. Louis leaned back against the wall beside the radiator and pulled out his notes, splaying them out in front of himself.

He felt eyes boring into him and turned slightly to glance over, face within inches of Harry’s, humid breath sliding against his face.

“Hi puppy, how are you?” He said, mouth tugging up in the corners, hand coming to ruffle the top of his head.

Harry growled playfully and barked, a small yip sounding more like that of a Chihuahuas than the giant creature sitting next to him. Louis considered mimicking the bark for a moment, but worried Harry may find it patronizing, and he wasn’t sure if he was more concerned with hurting Harry’s feeling or what might happen if he did. Mostly, completely his feelings.

“Are you part Pomeranian?” Louis muttered as he dug through his bag to pull out his textbook, “so fluffy human or not, it’s ridiculous.” As he finally yanked free his textbook, he sent his pen skidding across the floor and he pursed his lips broadly, squinting at the pen as though if he stared hard enough it would come back over. His face hurt from tensing his muscles. It was worth a shot.

“I don’t suppose you can get that, can you?” Louis asked, eyeing the pen rolled across the floor just out of stretching reach.

Harry blinked slowly.

“Oh! Right, right, sorry, forgot about your whole,” Louis gestured down, “you know.”

Harry rolled his eyes and huffed again, whining in his throat and Louis nodded sympathetically in return, stretching out to roll the pen back over with his big toe, gripping it between them with a triumphant shout.

“So,” Louis hummed, looking down at his checklist of review topics, “want to talk about the optimal incubation environment for fungal cultures?”

Harry stared at him blankly without blinking. Louis took that a yes and began to read aloud from his notes.

“Incubation for fungal cultures should take place over the course of a one month time period. Optimal temperature should be kept within five degrees of 25 Celsius,” Louis began, tucking his feet against Harry’s thighs. Harry let out a long breath and Louis smiled, speaking softer as her settled into the wall and into Harry.

___

 Louis was slumped against Harry’s side, still reading through his notes on fungi and cracking the occasional pun to which Harry lets out small sounds to show his amusement. Louis was the best boyfriend ever, honestly. Second, maybe, after Harry.

A loud whine interrupted Louis’ sentence and he glanced up, expecting Harry to be looking down at him for some reason, but instead Harry’s head is turned up and back, eyes staring at where the moon had parted through the trees.

“No.”

Harry whined and yipped, nudging his face down against Louis and looking back up into the sky pleadingly.

“Harry, no, you’re staying right where you are for once.

Harry whined again and howled brokenly at the ceiling, causing a rippling affect throughout the neighborhood as every dog in a miles radius returned the call.

Louis huffed and crossed his arms, “I don’t care mister. Your friends can wait and play another day. I’m sure they’ll understand.”

Harry paused, and Louis prepared himself to back away, anticipating snarling and snapping teeth, but instead as Harry lowered his head he gets wide, begging eyes and downturned lips, paired with whimpering and a prodding nose against his cheek. Louis arms unfolded themselves and fell lamely at his sides. He sighed, mirroring the pout with his own as he cooed, arms reaching out to touch the chain. Why Harry was so good at that damn puppy dog face, Louis would never know. The pouting face, not his actual face. That was because he was a werewolf. Obviously.

“How can I say no to that face,” Louis sighed, walking over on his knees to kneel in front of Harry, reaching into his joggers to retrieve his key, unlocking the main lock and letting the chains fall around Harry.

Louis hoped Harry didn’t remember any of this, or at least chose not to tell Liam. Louis wasn’t particularly fond of being scolded, especially by someone who couldn’t even tie his own shoes.

Harry yipped happily, stretching his legs and bounding over to tackle Louis to the ground giving him a wet lick to the face.

“Please, too much tongue,” Louis yelped, hands coming up to block his face. Harry got off of him and ran in circles for a moment, seemingly happy just to be free from the chains, tail wagging in a blur as his body shook with energy. See, he made his boy happy, take that Liam.

Louis sighed, “Happy?” Harry barked loudly in response and Louis smiled, pushing himself to stand from his crouching position, “Good, just don’t go running off-“

Harry took off running, a gust of air pushing Louis’ hair back as Harry leapt forward and smashed through the window pane, sending wood and glass shattering into fragments and skidding across the floor and flying outdoors. Chunks of drywall were crushed in, dust clouding into the air. There was a loud bang and shattering sound as Harry knocked down what sounded to be one of the ceramic bowls Louis’ sister, Lottie, had made him. An ear throbbing howl broke rang through the night air followed by the sound of breaking branches as he tore through the brambles.

Louis sat there, hand covering his pursed lips and eyes gently shut. He sighed, forcing them open to peer around, pressing his lips together.

“-again.”

Louis figured he should probably be panicking at this point, but he was still sort of stuck in shock that he fell for the puppy dog routine, but even worse, that Liam was right. He would never live this down.

He decided to take the civilized route to leave the house, climbing down the ladder and stairs and into the kitchen where he resigned to slumping at a kitchen chair. His head pressed against the cold surface of the table and he tried to build up courage for what he knew was the next logical step. He didn’t want to do it, but it was his only option, really. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, lifting his head to eye it warily through squinted eyes.

Liam answered on the second ring, the sound of fifa and distinct Niall shouts ringing in, the gathering obviously still taking place at this ungodly hour, barely reasonable for studying, let alone getting high and playing video games.

“’Lo?” Liam said, voice muffled for a moment before a click of the door sounded on the line and the background noise became silent, “What’s wrong?”

Louis was taken aback for a moment, “Why does something have to be wrong for me to call my best mate?”

Liam’s eye roll could be heard through soundwaves, “You told me you had to study tonight and if I called you for any reason that you’d do something I’m not comfortable repeating.”

Oh, right. Louis vaguely remembered saying something like that, but only because Liam always called about the dumbest things. An hour long discussion about what cut jeans looks best was one that Louis could only tolerate when coming from Harry.

“It’s Harry.”

Liam’s reply was biting with concern, “What? Did he hurt you? Louis, listen, I love Harry, but if he hurt you-“

“Just listen,” Louis spoke on a rushed outtake of breath before Liam could orchestrate and angry mob and turn his life into a Disney movie without a happy ending, “I may or may not have lost Harry.”

“Lost Harry?” Liam sounds confused more than anything, “but what about the silver chains we ordered?”

“I maybe, sort of, let him go.” Louis trailed of and stared down at his free hand, thumbing over his knuckles as his nerves rose.

“You what?!” Liam choked, his voice livid, “Louis, he could hurt someone or get hurt.”

Louis was beginning to panic, only a little, “Do you think I don’t know that? So can you please stop yelling at me and come here and help me?”

Liam sighed, “I’m not yelling-“

“I know, I know, you’re just ‘showing concern,’ but there is enough concern happening over here, so can you please just be a lad for once and help me find my boyfriend before he gives an old woman a heart attack?” Louis heart was beginning to pound out of his chest, imagining the old lady who baked them sugar cookies falling dead because she saw Harry. That’d be devastating, it would tear Harry apart and therefore Louis for letting him free. The cookies were really good too.

“Okay, okay, I’m in the city, so it may take me a bit, so how about you head out on your own now and start looking and if anything happens you can call me and I’ll get help.”

“What kind of help can you get from the city?”

“I can call animal control.”

“I am not calling animal control on my _boyfriend,_ Liam,” Louis snapped, fingers clenching on his phone as he stood and began to slide into his jacket.

Liam’s sigh could be heard through the line, vibrating against Louis’ ear, “I know, but I just mean worst case scenario, which won’t happen because you’re going to find him Louis.”

“I know, I know,” Louis sighed trying not to let his worries get to him, “thanks.”

Louis hung up with a quick goodbye and slipped his phone into his jacket pocket, just for precautions sake. He walked over to the table and opened the package of the dog whistle, figuring it couldn’t do any harm even if it was just purchased as a joke to rile Harry up.

Then, Louis walked to the door toeing on his slippers and grumbling to himself. The metal handle of the door is ice cold, and Louis shivers even with his jacket, but pushes out anyway, ignoring the chills that race up and down his arms as he comes in contact with the night air.

“Why did I have to date a stupid werewolf?” Louis grumbled to no one, taking the first few steps down and glancing up at the trashed attic window, careful not to step on any glass shards that fell onto the sidewalk, “Couldn’t I just date a human like the majority of the rest of the human population? I was perfectly fine before I met a werewolf, I was perfectly fine thinking everyone was human, but no.” Louis kicked a rock down the driveway and stuffed his hands into his pockets, head kept down as a young couple walked past with their torches as he walked onto the street. When they passed, he stopped to look around for a moment, trying to think where he would go if he were a werewolf.

He is answered by the yowling of a cat, running past him, the distinctive M pattern on his back meaning that he’s probably Taylor, their neighbour’s cat. Louis thought nothing of it for a moment, staring at it run past, before he was nearly knocked over by a barreling creature.

Louis stumbled forward, catching himself with hands on his knees by the force of what Louis assumed to be Harry. Louis pivoted and followed the direction they ran to, watching as Harry growled and snarled after the cat, chasing it straight into Taylor’s backyard. Louis stood stark still for a moment, before he decided that while Taylor is annoying and Louis had wished on multiple occasions she would move away, she didn’t deserve to have a dead cat. She very much deserved an alive one.

Louis jogged after them, waving his arms in the air, already panting and out of breath by the time he reached them, running in circles around Taylor’s garden, tearing up every flower she had planted.

Louis stomped his feet and yelled out, frantically waving his arm, “Hey! Cut it out, leave the cat alone!”

Harry froze and Louis reached out a hand, the cat running through the cat door and into safety, Louis smiled and took a step closer, hoping if he got close enough he could convince Harry to come inside. Instead when Louis stepped closer, he stepped on a branch, causing a crack to sound from underneath his slipper. Immediately, Harry ran in the opposite direction, across the street and into the woods behind the old lady’s house.

Louis cursed, shoving his hands back into his pockets as if burned, looked around at the destroyed garden, deciding that was an apology fruit basket that could wait, and trudged back to the front of the house muttering to himself, “Why couldn’t Harry just be a cute, hipster, coffee loving freak instead of a giant, werewolf, idiot freak?”

As he rounded the front of the house he continued, pulling his hands out of his pockets to wave them exasperatedly, “I can’t believe I lost my boyfriend. Usually when people say that they get to eat a pint of ice cream and cry over reality shows, but no, when I say it I have to go trudging into the woods in the middle of the bloody night. And another th-”

“Well howdy, neighbour!”

Shit. “Howdy,” Louis whispered to himself under his breath before turning around, “Hey, Taylor! Weird seeing you here, almost as if you live here or summat.”

Taylor laughed a lot harder than need be clutching her cat to her chest with one hand and holding her mail with the other, “What are you doing out so late?”

Louis ignored the question and instead redirected the same back to her.

“Oh, I was just gardening all day and night,” Louis cringed, “then I realized I never got my mail.”

“Garden, cool, cool.” Louis absentmindedly said, glancing back in the direction Harry had run off to.

“So?”

Louis paused and looked at her, “So?”

“I asked why you were out here?” she supplied, rolling her free hand on its wrist.

“Oh! Oh- Uh, my dog got loose!” He stammered, digging his toe into the sidewalk and scuffing it along.

“Again?” she asked, eyes wide, red lips pulled in an “o” shape.

“Hah, yeah again,” Louis’ hand came to scratch the back of his neck, tugging awkwardly at his collar, eyes darting behind him as if looking for an escape.

“Isn’t it weird how he only gets loose once a month?” Taylor asked, hmming to herself as she tilted her head to the side, face contorting into that of a child completing a jigsaw.

“Really? Does he?” Louis took a step back stumbling over his own feet and trying to brush off his discomfort, “I, uh, never really noticed.”

“In fact,” Taylor said tutting her tongue against her teeth, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you or Harry with your dog. Weird. I guess he spends so much time lost you don’t really need to walk him, huh?” She laughed to herself, clutching her cat tighter to her chest as it stared in panic at Louis. She remained oblivious of both Louis and Milkshake’s discomfort, instead beginning to talk about a dog treat recipe she found on pinterest that she would be more than happy to give to Harry at their book club meeting next week.

“Where is Harry, anyway?”

“Wow,” Louis feigned, glancing down at his imaginary watch and tapping at his wrist, “I really ‘ought to get going if I’m going to find that dog.”

“Oh! Okay!” Taylor said, as though shocked something took precedent over their conversation, Louis was already beginning to walk away when she tacked on, “be careful! The neighbourhood watch put up a bunch of traps this past week!”

Louis stopped dead in his tracks, turning on his foot and staring at her, “They what?”

“Yeah!” she chirps as if she’s passing on the best news of Louis day, “there’s been some animal destroying neighbourhood property and terrorizing pets. Mrs. Jeankins actually saw it and said it was a monster, of course she’s also old… Makes good sugar cookies though!”

And Louis thought he could trust her.

“Oh? That’s worrisome.”

“It just started happening recently too, which actually… Now that you mention it, it’s only started happening since you moved here, weird, huh?”

Louis started jittering and stumbling over his words, “I better get going, make sure my dog is safe and all.”

“Don’t worry,” she laughed, “it would have to be a big dog to set it off. Like a bear size dog, isn’t that ridiculous.” She was laughing over herself at that point, barely able to get a word out.

“Ha! Yeah, bear sized dog, ridiculous. Who would ever,” Louis felt panic bubbling up inside of him and he turned around, walking away with a shout of bye over his shoulder.

“You should really consider getting a cat!” Taylor called behind him before starting a discussion with her cat and heading to admire her hard work in her garden. At least a cat boyfriend would just want to nap the whole day once a month.

He chuckled to himself at the thought, but couldn’t ignore a gnawing feeling in his chest. The entire time Louis had been worried about Harry hurting someone else, never once taking into consideration that it could be Harry who would be hurt. It was easy to imagine Harry the wolf as something mythical and invincible, made of the same fairytales humans believed he derived from. It was harder at times to remember that Harry the wolf was the same Harry as Harry the human who, while having a weird thing for pain, teared up when he got papercuts. It shamed Louis, deep down in the pit of his stomach, that he too could be subject to dehumanize Harry, even if it was to lift him above his humanity.

Slowly, Louis approached the start of the forest, pitch black and ominous. Louis pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight feature, stepping forward into the crinkling of the leaves , light washing out the colour of his surrounding and leaving only colour book outlines.

“Harry?” he called out loudly, shaking slightly and glancing behind his shoulder as he walked further in, allowing the shroud of trees to swallow him in darkness. A branch cracked to his left and jumped, spinning to look, shinning his light, but only seeing the same darkness. He took a deep breath and kept walking forward, trying to keep his thoughts light.

Louis thought back to the first time Harry showed him the forest, trying to sell him on the house away from his life in the city. He thought about how Harry had taken him on a picnic, packing peanut butter and banana sandwiches without their crusts and chocolate milk, sheets becoming makeshift tarps. A smile played on Louis’ lips as he recalled the plethora of woodland creatures that had come up, making Harry appear to be some sort of Disney princess. Harry had blushed and apologized profusely, but it was one of Louis’ favourite memories, sharing pieces of food with the birds while Harry told him to stop.

Something that sounded like either a murderous scream or a casual bird sounded from up above Louis and he ran blindly forward. This forest was obviously a different forest at night.

“Harry?” Louis tried again, sing songing into the night, “Can you please come out so we can go home? I don’t like it out here much.”

Off to the right Louis heard a loud hiss and he closed his eyes for a moment, before jogging in the direction of it. Harry was at the base of a tree trying to catch a cat sitting in the low branches, licking at its paws.

“Harry!” Louis shouted, trying to get his attention without moving forward or chasing him away. Harry glanced over his shoulder and snarled, turning back to the tree where he clawed the bark away.

Louis panicked as he shouted Harry’s name repeatedly, trying to get his attention and save the cat and tree from sure destruction. He reached into his pocket to grab his phone when his fingers instead clasped around the whistle he had shoved in earlier. Louis figured it was worth a shot, and he lifted it to his mouth, wrapping his lips around it and blew harshly into its mouthpiece.

Harry stopped immediately, falling to his feet and whimpering, like a tension was released from him. Louis glanced down in surprise at the cheap whistle and nodded at it appreciatively, the more you knew.

“Seriously? Another cat?” Louis asked, head lulling back in exasperation and exhaustion.

Harry looked at Louis, standing up onto his hind legs, peering at him curiously, head cocked to the side.

“I don’t need you to hunt for me, leave the cat alone! Seriously who does that?” Louis continued, arms flapping around dramatically. A low growl rumbled in Harry’s chest, but Louis ignored it stomping his foot down, causing Harry to fall silent once more.

“Sure, you’re a werewolf, but you’re a human too. More important, you’re my boyfriend, Harry Styles. And I’m tired of people forgetting that. I know for a fact Harry Styles isn’t always a _complete_ idiot, so please just stop running off and trying to kill things,” Louis took a deep breath as Harry stared at him.

He continued when he caught it, whispering quietly now, “You’re not very good at it and honestly it’s kind of… scary.” His voice trailed off at the end, barely audible even to his own ears, but he knew Harry heard because instantly Harry is standing down, almost as if he fully understood what Louis said.

Louis took a chance and stepped forward, then lifted his foot to take another.

Harry began bounding forward and Louis smiled, ready for a hug and a cuddle, to slip Harry back into the house without being seen and everything would be back to normal. Then, Louis noticed Harry was snapping and snarling, charging at him with his teeth bared, and Louis froze.

It happened as if in slow motion, Harry charging for him and tackling him to the ground, teeth snapping at his neck, claws digging into his shirt and ripping into the fabric. Louis closes his eyes and screams, never having been afraid of Harry before this moment, where his head made contact with the ground and he prepared himself for death. He figured this is what he got for dating a werewolf, everyone had warned him, but he wanted to prove something, and now he was dead. Louis prepared himself for the feel of sharp canines tearing into his neck, but nothing came. Instead the snap of metal and a loud yelp echoed through the forest.

Louis kept his eyes closed for a moment, not processing what just happened before he hears the distinct sound of Harry whining. He sat up quickly, wiping the tears out of his eyes and looking around.  His heart dropped as he looked at Harry, crumpled on the ground with one of his large hind legs trapped inside a large metal toothed trap.

From where the metal dug into Harry, his fur was matted red already, slowly oozing blood around the sharpened teeth. His leg was bent at a section without a joint and Harry howled in pain, whimpering and crying.

Louis crawled over quickly on his hands and knees, panic setting deep into his bones as he moved his way to Harry’s leg. He reached out shaky hands to touch his leg, trying to access the damage as best he could for someone who studied plants and sold records for a living. When he made contact, Harry’s head snapped up, growling and fur bristling on the back of his neck, snapping blindly before he saw Louis face and settled back down, whimpering as he let Louis examine his leg.

“It’ll be okay, I promise,” Louis whispered placing his hands on the trap, “I’m so sorry.” Louis placed his hands on both sides of the trap and pulled, trying to get the teeth to budge apart. The more he pulled however, the harder it seemed to be to get the teeth to separate, at one point pulling apart an inch just to snapback into Harry’s leg with a squelch. Louis apologized profusely as Harry remained eerily pliant, lying boneless on the ground, breathing labored with what Louis assumed to be the struggle to stay still.

“I can do this, don’t worry.” Louis assured, receiving a look over the shoulder that wreaked of Harry, making Louis’ heart ache as his fingers stained with blood. Louis lied, he couldn’t do this, he was giving up, he was a failure of a boyfeiend.  Something fumbled down the hill behind him and he froze. Great. Exactly what he needed. It was probably whoever set the trap coming to get his prize. Now he was going to die protecting his boyfriend. He just wanted to graduate. He turned to snap at the person when they spoke.

“Heard you needed some help?” A three headed shadowed figure said, or three people. Louis lifted his phone up to them and revealed three squinty idiots staring back at him.

“Oh thank god,” Louis groaned loudly, “now is not the time for dramatic entrances, Liam come help me.”

Liam’s face twisted in confusion before he finally uses his own torch to access the situation, “Oh… Oh!” He ran over quickly, Niall and Zayn in his wake, before he crouched down.

“Jesus, Harry, you sure know how to stir up some drama,” Liam said on a laugh, examining the same way Louis had before, trying to see if it was safe to remove the teeth.

Zayn approached behind them and placed a hand on Louis’ shoulder, squeezing gently. Louis looked up at him and smiled before lifting an eyebrow in question.

“Honestly, while blood is blood, he smells disgusting, most of us do,” Zayn said on a shrug, teeth dragging over his receded fangs.

As Louis and Zayn watched Liam work, Niall shouted from somewhere far back, “I’m just going to stay back here where it’s safe!”

Zayn rolled his eyes and crouched closer, whispering, “Honestly we found you because Niall could smell the blood.”

“What is he, again?” Louis asked, feeling rather than seeing Zayn’s shrug, brow furrowed as he watched Liam pry the teeth out of Harry’s leg and wrap his jacket tight around it, causing a loud growl mixed with a yelp to tear itself weakly from Harry, energy expenditure high.

Harry tried to push himself up, but stumbles, falling over again when he tried to put weight onto his hind leg. Liam sighs and gestures for Louis to come to his other side, both of them heaving him up to walk him back toward the house through the woods. As they walked, wrapping around to avoid going back on the street with a big bleeding werewolf, Harry’s head lulled to the side to rest atop of Louis’ sniffling into his hair as they help him navigate. They make small talk about how the gathering was before Louis ended it, talk about how Niall was getting increasingly good at Fifa and had to be cheating somehow. All the while Harry whimpered into Louis’ ear with every step and Louis cooed and whispered to him about how good he was being.

When they get back, they help Harry step up into the back of the house and into the lounge, setting him down on the couch for a moment while they regrouped.

“I brought some stuff in my car just to be safe, so I’ll go get that if you want to take him up to the bathroom so I can do that,” Liam said, already standing up and turning toward the front door where his car sat still running idle.

When Liam left, Niall plopped down on the couch, “Good work friends, looks like our work is done!” Louis gave an unimpressed look and crossed his arms for a moment before an idea hit him.

“Actually, I have a job for the both of you,” he said, gathering Harry to rest his weight atop of him. Louis stumbled slightly while trying to support Harry, suddenly very aware of how much Liam was taking off of the job. Immediately, Zayn pressed himself under Harry’s other side, balancing him out and helping Louis take him up the stairs. Niall had to help scoop Harry up slightly when they got to the third step from the next floor, lifting him up and gently setting him down on the next.

They all got Harry settled on the toilet seat, sitting awkwardly on it like an adult on a children’s training toilet. Niall snickered slightly and Louis hit his shoulder, scolding him for mocking Harry, especially while he was hurt. Niall rolled his eyes but stopped, instead following him as he turned to show them their next job.

“I’ll be right back, okay, puppy?” Louis called over his shoulder and got a tired whimper in response. Louis took it as a motion of ascent and lead Zayn and Niall up the ladder to gesture at the broken window.

“That’s very broken,” Niall said bluntly, nodding as though his job was to appraise the damage.

“Really? I never noticed” Louis snarked, before turning to Zayn and gesturing at it with his head, “Will you?”

Zayn nodded nonchalantly with a disinterested shrug, while Niall saluted and called, “Aye captain, as you wish.” Louis really needed to figure out what this kid was.

Louis nodded at them and thanked them before running back downstairs to the bathroom where he found Liam already at work over Harry. He was currently being growled at as he applied antiseptic to the wounded area, working out the blood from the fur.

Louis walked over and sat beside Harry on the ledge of the bath, scratching behind his ear and leaning close. Harry’s head snapped over and Louis mock whispered, “stop being a baby and let the man fix you up.” Louis hoped Harry knew he was joking, he wasn’t the one who just had a bear trap lodged into his leg after all. Luckily Harry lets out a bark like laugh, more human than he had been in a while that night, obviously winding down from the moon as the early hours of the morning began to approach.

Liam made quick work of wrapping the leg in gauze and then a harder fabric, tight enough to shape the leg back into a leg shape and less like a strange V bend. Louis was so proud of Harry, who barely growled through the entire process, even when the disjointed bones made a clicking sound as Liam tightened the binds.

Liam turned to Louis and started to speak softly, “He heals quickly when he’s in his wolf phase, so a majority of the healing should be done tonight, but it’ll be about a week before he’s really back on his feet fully. He’ll try to be superhuman, which he is, but just let him pretend for a bit, yeah?” Louis nodded and gripped Liam in a hug, already picking out the fruits for the basket, until Harry let out a playful growl and Louis laughed, breaking away and leaning into Harry’s fur.

When Zayn walked in Harry barred his teeth and growled, fur bristling. Louis’ eyes widened, but Zayn just laughed, “You save the guy and this is the thanks you get.”

“I don’t really think it was you that saved him,” Liam said, pouting his lips out.

The two started bickering while Louis watched on with a small smile, leaning back against Harry’s side. He leaned back and admired Harry, staring up to Harry as Harry did the moon and Harry stared back the same. Maybe there was something to it, being each other’s moons, to reflecting each other’s starlight when the other failed to see how bright they shined. Louis would tell Harry that one day, maybe, if he ever got the courage. The courage to say that Harry made him shine.

“We fixed the window by the way,” Zayn’s voice snapped him out of it, an excited Niall peering over Zayn’s shoulder.

“Oh?”

“Yeah,” Niall said excitedly, pride evident in his voice, “We put cling film from your kitchen over it!”

Liam burst into laughter and shortly everyone followed suit, laughter rolling through them, including to Harry who let out short bursts of air.

“Thank you, Niall,” Louis said with a small smile, suddenly all too grateful for the family he and Harry built for themselves.

Liam leant in and whispered slyly, “I’ll come by tomorrow and fix it, but at least they stopped the draft.” Louis grinned and clapped Liam on the back, thanking them all profusely.

“We get it, we can tell when we aren’t wanted,” Zayn said, smile on his lips, shushing Louis when he protested.

The boys filed out one by one, leaving the bathroom to just he and Harry, comfortable silence aside from the sound of Harry’s breathing. Finally Louis stood and turned to face Harry, standing still for a moment, before launching himself at him. Louis wrapped Harry into his arms and buried his face into Harry’s fur.

“Never do that to me again, okay?” he sniffled, fingers curling and gripping into Harry’s fur, “I love you so much, Harry.” He hugged Harry for a moment longer, before to his surprise, a large paw came to press against his back. Louis pulled back slightly, removing an arm from the hug to wipe at his nose, trying not to look like a snotty baby.

Suddenly, the moment is ruined by a loud crash, and honestly Louis could only imagine what else it could be after the night that he’d had.

“My leg is stuck in the step!” Niall shouted, and Louis immediately doubled over in laughter, burying his face in Harry’s fur once more, Harry’s chest rumbling with laugher as well.

When he caught his breath, he pulled back, beaming at Harry, “I should go walk them out before anything else gets broken tonight.”

He stood up and headed downstairs, avoiding the new hole in the third step from the top, and hopping down to let his friends out.

As he opened the door, and hugged them each goodbye, Zayn clasped him hard and whispered in his ear, “Thanks, this isn’t exactly what I mean when I said we should all hang out more, but it works.”

Louis grinned and gripped him back, both laughing together with their heads bowed before they pulled apart and Louis followed them to their car. When he shoved his hand in his pocket and felt a crinkle, his eyes widened, having assumed he had emptied his pocket completely, reaching in he pulled out a crumpled up flyer for an art class, and a handful of cinnamon mints.

"Oh, wait, Zayn!" Louis shouted after him, and Zayn turned, eyebrow raised expectantly.

Louis stumbled forward, flyer gripped out in his hand like an offering before he thrust it against Zayn's chest.

"Art class, yeah?"

Zayn looked down at where Louis' hand was pressing the flyer flat against his chest and he reached his hand up, grabbing the flyer carefully by a crumpled edge. He lifted it to his face slowly, eyes scanning back and forth as Louis chewed nervously on his lip. Zayn's eyes lifted back and he examined Louis face for a moment, brown eyes scrutinizing.

"Yeah."

"Cool! Great!" Louis beamed, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

If you had asked Louis where he thought he would be in his final year of University, he never would have said this is where you would find him, but surrounded by his three best friends laughing after having gone on a night out, with his boy upstairs waiting for him, and making plans to have a celebratory night in after Louis probably failed his exam; he was pretty content with the unexpected.

When Louis got back upstairs his first piece of business was to close the door to the attic, no longer interested in any memories left of the horrendous night before. It took him a few hops to shove the door closed, but when it clicked shut, Louis felt a strange level of satisfaction.

Louis then went toward the bathroom and peered in, only to find it empty, his chest tightened and he hurried to the bedroom, worry filling his chest. How could he be so dumb to leave Harry alone? How could he-

Harry was lying on his side on the foot of the bed, staring up at Louis with his large yellow eyes. Louis smiled, shrugging off his jacket, and plopped down on his own side of the bed, digging his feet under Harry’s back for warmth. Suddenly, leaning back against the pillows the weight of his day came crashing down, probably adding years to his life. He yawned, shuffling under the blankets and looking down at Harry.

“You can just, um,” Louis paused for another yawn, “do whatever it is werewolves do.”

Harry huffed in response and limped up the bed, before flopping over and curling one of his front leg-arms over Louis’ midsection. Louis was frozen for a moment, shocked, before he melted into it, suddenly feeling the warmest he had felt all day.

They stayed like that for a while, silent, until Louis turned in Harry’s arms and faced him. “Harry can you tell me if you understand me?”

Harry stared at him sleepily, but made no movement.

“Okay, well,” Louis paused, “I know I always tell you I love you, but I don’t think I ever tell you how much. You just make me this… Better person that I guess I always sort of knew I could be, but I never knew how easy it would be until I met you. You- Honestly you make me shine, and I know that sound stupid, but you do.”

Harry continued to stare back.

Louis took a deep breath and leaned in, “I just love you a lot Harry Styles. I love you as a human, I love you as a wolf, I love you as something in between, and I would love you as whatever the hell Niall is. It’s almost as if some part of me was made to love you and some part of you was made to love me. I just wanted to tell you now, because I probably will never have the courage again. I just wanted to tell you that I am very thankful that you came into my life.”

Harry blinked at him.

Louis laughed, rolling his eyes, “Okay that’s it I’m going to sleep now, werewolf hunting can do that to you.” With that, Louis curled into Harry’s arms and closed his eyes, immediately drifting into a contented sleep.

___

Louis woke up to large green eyes peering back at him.

“Whatime isit?” Louis grumbled, scooting closer into Harry’s body for warmth, pulling the blankets closer to himself.

“About eight,” Harry whispered, overlapping Louis leg with his own so they braided together “Listen Louis, I’m really sorry about last night, it was the wolf.”

“Harold,” Louis whispered, gesturing him closer and whispering conspiratorially to him, “I hate to break it to you, but you are the wolf, and the wolf is you, you are the same being.”

Harry furrowed his brow in offense and opened his mouth to speak, but Louis didn’t allow him, continuing his speech, “I mean, you don’t have to try and excuse yourself, especially to me. I may not understand, but I understand and I love you, even in your furry worst.”

Harry’s smile was so large it might have busted his face if Louis hadn’t leaned in to pepper him with kisses.

“I do have another thing to apologise for though,” Harry whispered, shuffling closer on his side, ending up awkwardly spinning in his direction as his feet made no traction against the sheets.

“What,” Louis murmured, eyes falling back shut, “if it’s about the ceramic pot, you can talk to Lottie yourself, I’m not dealing with that.”

“No, uh, last night, I maybe understood and remembered some thing I shouldn’t have…”

Louis kept his eyes closed, but lifted a hand to his chest scandalized, “I thought you couldn’t understand me.”

“I didn’t mean to understand you, but if anything that just proves you’re right. I feel the same. You are my other half and if this was Twilight and imprinting was an actual thing, I feel as though I would have imprinted on you from the moment we met. I have met enough species like me who had existed for much longer than I have, to know that fate is real and has a hand in our lives. I used to think I was just a victim to fate, but you, you made me believe in a beautiful world again…” Through the crack in his eye, Louis can see that Harry is burning bright red again, so Louis leans forward and kisses him softly, curling back into him and humming.

“Thank you for being here for me,” Harry whispered, pulling Louis closer with his arms by wrapping them to Louis’ back.

Louis buried his head into the juncture between neck and shoulder, “Thank you for letting me be.”

“How about I make breakfast?” Harry said, moving to roll out of bed before putting pressure on his foot and cursing.

Louis rolled his eyes and pulled Louis back to him, grumbling softly, “Just shut up already.” The silence lasted all of five minutes.

“Um… Lou,” Harry whispered tapping Louis on the shoulder once.

“Seriously Haz,” Louis groaned, pulling the blanket up on his head, “I have to be to class at ten, so if you could just get out whatever you need to before I have to go so we can sleep and cuddle a bit more that would be great.”

“Your, um your magic… has worn off,” he whispered, tapping twice between Louis’ shoulder blades.

Louis forced open his eyes once again, glancing behind him and being faced with his own large, extravagant, fluttering wings.

“God Dammit.”

Seriously, fuck mythical creatures.


End file.
